Improved method of relieving liquids of gases



N. W. WHEELER. METHOD OF DELIVERING LIQUID GASES.

Pafinented. Feb. 6 1866.

VI III III UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

NORMAN \V. WHEELER, OF BROOKLYN, EVV YORK.

IMPROVED METHOD OFVRELIEVING LIQUIDS OF GASES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. '5 2,477, dated February (5, 1866 antcdated December 26, 1865. i

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, NORMAN W. WHEEL R, of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Method of Relieving Liquids of Gases; and I hereby declare that the following is a full pipe of aforce-pump or a vessel containing liquid and gas that that part of the gas or air not in intimate combination with the liquid will be set free automatically.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe-its construction and operation as adapted to the purpose of relievingthe feed-water for a steam-boiler of any excess of air which may have been passed through the feed-pum p along with it, especially when the said boiler is supplied i'rom a surface-condenser, premising that for other and similar uses in chemical or other processes like objects may be accomplished by the same invention.

In the drawing-ma is a portion of a hot-w'ell' or fresh-water tank which receives the fresh water from a surface-condenser; l), the suctionpipe of a force-pump; c, the pump, and d thedischarge-pipe thereof, which leads from the pump to the boiler and through which the feed-water is forced; c, a branch pipe-to the feed-pipe, connected thereto, by preference to the highest part thereof; f, a liquid-trap; its floating pot; lb, its discharge-pipe; 1', a stopcock, and j a pipe leading from the cock '5, and communicating with the hot-well a. I

The trap f is composed of a cylinder or vessel containing afloating pot,g, open at the top and fitted with proper guides, so that it may have a limited vertical motion parallel with the pipe h, which pipe is secured to the cap or cover of the trap. In the example before us the guide is shown as a tube surrounding the pipe h, enlarged at the lower end and secured to the bottom of the pot g bya flange, theenlarged part of the guide-pipe having several holes therein to admit freely liquid or gas around the lower end of the pipe h. The lower end of the pipe h is faced off and made smooth, so that it will fit tightly against the bottom of the floating pot g, or, by preference, a piece of vulcanized rubber secured'thereto.

Now, when the bottom of .the fioating pot g in the usual way is set in motion, we shallfind that from leakage or other causes there has considerable water collected inthe condenser,

.and is thrown -by the first movements of the air-pump into the hot-well, and the feed-pump receives for a time a full charge of water at each stroke; but as the feed-pump has usually and necessarily a much greater capacity than that required to barely supply the boiler when all parts are tight, in good order, and in perfect adjustment, it will quickly empty the hot-well a of it's surplus water; and after having been at work a considerable time there will not be sufficient water condensed to fill the pump at every stroke, and hence it will receive and discharge air as well as water, which air will pass into. the boiler, mingle with the steam, and pass with it through the engine into thecondenser, vitiating the vacuum.

To remedy this defect attempts have been made to prevent air entering the suction-pipe b by placing therein a valve connected by a system of levers and rods to a float in the hotwell a in such a way that when the water in the hot-well fell below a certain level the valve in the pipe I) should be closed and the supply to the teed-pump shut off; but the extreme delicacy and exactness required in th"; construction and adjustment of this device and the disturbance to which it was exposed by the motion of the vessel, and, further, its liability to derangement from the collection of sedi- Inent about its parts, render it practically useless, and the vitiationof the vacuum has been endured. But had this last-described 2 V I I 52,417

gained, for it is well known that water that has been newly condensed from steam with such limited contact with air or gases, as is the case when ordinary surl'ace condensers are used, is very nearly deaerated, and had it been returned to the boiler in that state would have required a'greater amount of heat to vaporize it than if it had been aerated, and that its ebullition might at any time become uncertain and dangerous.

It is well known that manyot' the boilers of lately-built naval steamers have foamed to an almost disabling degree for a considerable time, but performed afterward in a much more satisfactory manner; and it is deemed fair to surmise that the disabling of the float apparatus might probably be connected with the phenomenon, as when that occurred the feedwater would be aerated.

I have dwelt upon the difiiculties heretofore met with in order that the characteristics of my invention may be the more readily understood and appreciated when I describe its action.

When the engine to which my inventien is attached is set in motion and the feed pump begins to force water into the hoiler there will .probably be a considerable quantity of water in the condenser, which being thrown by the air-pump into the hot-well furnishes the feedpump with full charges for a number of strokes. Then the water will' be forced into the pipes (l and e and the. trapf. compressing what air was contained in them into the upper part of the trap, whereupon the water will run over the open top of the floating pot g and causeit to sink, thus opening a passage through the pipe h, and it the. stop-cock i be open a portion of the water from the pipe (I will pass through the pipe j into the hot-well a. This will be an undesirable result; hence at starting the stop-cock 11 should be closed, in which case, the air being retained in the trap ,the feedmm'p will speedily dispose of the surplus water in the hot-well, and after a short time force mixed air and waterv into the pipe d, as previously described. The passage of air and water through the feed-pump and its valves will cause them to be intimately mixed while under considerable pressure, and will cause the air and water to combine as they are found combined in nature, or,in other words, the previously deaerated water will become aerated. That portion of the air which does not combine withthe water'will seek the highest part of the pipe (I and its connections,

and eventually lodge inthe upper part of the trap f. If the stop-cockt' be opened after the feed-pump c has been in operation for some time, and when the greater part of the trap f,

is occupied with air, so. that the pot gdoes not float, what water is contained in the poty will be blown out through the pipes h'andj, followed by what air-is contained in' the trap f, until the water will rise around the pot g and float it into contact with the lower end of the pipe h, thus stopping the flow. .The pump continuing in action, more air will find its way into thetrap f, displacing its bulk of water, which will flow slowly back through the pipe 0 until there will not be enough water in the trap f to float the pot y, when it-will again fali out of contact with the pipe h and discharge air until more water has entered the trap and the flow is stopped, as before described, and so on continually.

It is not necessary that the pipe j discharge into the hot-well, but in most cases it will be convenient to so construct it.

The pipe 6 may be replaced by two pipes,

'one leading from the higher part of the feedpipe alto the upper part of the trap f, and the other connecting the lower part of the trap f with the lower part of the pipe 4, thus'avoiding counter-currents of air and water in the sa'mepipe,or the pipe 0 may have a diaphragm within it to prevent the conflictv'between the two currents.

The trap f and the other parts of this apparatus may be made in many different forms, and I desire that it be understood that I do not limit myself to the precise construction herein described; nor do I claim the several members of this combination as new when they are used separately and for purposes other than herein set forth.

Having now fully described my invention, I will proceed to set forth what I claim as new and for which I desire to secure Letters Patent, to wit:

Relieving liquids of free gases or air while they are under pressure-by means of the liquidtrap f, or its equivalent, when the trap fis combined with thepump a, substantially as and for the purposes described.

NORMAN W. WHEELER. Witnesses: i

JOHN VAN AMRINGE, O. H. COR'BETT. 

